Happy 189th Birthday Costa Rica!

Buenas tardes,

Today, the 15th of September, is Independence Day for most of Central America.  So, we decided to go to the local parade that most children from the private and public schools participate in.  We are currently in Quepos, a small town near Manuel Antonio national park, where we are attending our second Spanish program.

But let's rewind a bit.  We left Montezuma and returned to Jaco by taxi boat on saturday.  Unlike the trip TO Montezuma, this time we saw an abundance of marine wildlife.  We first saw a pod of dolfins within the first few minutes.  We were excited about the spotting, but didn't expect to see much more.  However, we quickly came across at least two more pods of dolfins who enjoyed our company and stayed close to the boat.  After leaving the dolfins, our boat driver pointed out a family of humpback whales and he stepped on the gas so we could have a better look, which we did.  By the time we finished with the whales, we were running a little behind schedule, so our boat picked up some speed.  But, we had to stop one more time to see an unusual but hysterical pair of turtles getting it on!  Apparently it was unusal because we were far from shore and it is very late in the season for turtles to be mating.

Our time spent in Jaco was short but sweet, much like our previous experience there.  This time, though, we met some nice people, ate some authentic food, and got to witness some of the top surf in all  of Costa Rica.  Sunday was a relaxing morning, we ate breakfast at a French bakery where we met an American ex-pat who has been living in Jaco for the past 17 years.  He offered a lot of good advice and we exchanged contact information- he could turn out to be a useful friend and resource during our time here.  Then we caught the bus to Quepos (1-1.5 hours).  Once we arrived, we took a taxi to the edge of town where our host families live.  We were relieved to find that we live pretty much across the street from each other. 

Ty's family is somewhat similar to that of his experience in Buenos Aires.  However,  he is living with a married couple and their 35 year old son, who will return from vacation next week.  Ty's family enjoys a very standard schedule, consisting of lots of TV, telenovelas, and lottery participation.  Ju's family consists of a younger married couple and two of their four sons, ages 18 and nearly 16.  The boys are very busy with their schedules at private school and seem a bit shy around Ju.  However, both parents are very available and are very patient with Ju as she is piecing together her Spanish.  Both of our families have been very friendly and accomodating, offering their homes to us.  The food has been delicious (breakfast and dinner are included everyday) while other things, such as laundry and "hot" water are available to us.  If you don't believe us when we say the food is delicious, at least take Mirna's word (Ty's host mom) when she said to Ty the first night, that all students she hosts leave gordo, aka fatter than they arrived.

We are not the only ones in our school this session, but due to the current structure, we do have private instruction.  There are one or two breaks each day and we are in class each day from roughly 8-noon.  For our non-Spanish activity, we are becoming certified PADI open water scuba divers! Right now we are in the early stages, working on theory and the academic portion.  We will soon move to confined water dives before finishing off our certification with four open water dives near the beautiful national park of Manuel Antonio.

  We are without internet at home and without many new pictures, but we will try our best to post again soon.  We excited to see each and every new comment and to learn that you are all keeping up :)  We miss and love you all!

Pura vida,
Ty and Ju